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Saturday, 5 March 2016

News from Syria/Tueky - 03/04/2016

4 April, 2016

Jabhat
Al-Nusra terrorists have pitched their camps right next to the border
and receive regular supplies from the Turkish side, Syrian Kurdish
forces told RT’s Lizzie Phelan, who traveled with YPG to
investigate suspicious activity there.

An
RT crew has filmed a number of vehicles coming through the Bab
al-Salam crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border, on the outskirts of
the northern town of Azaz, which is partially controlled by Al-Nusra,
according to reports.

“We
can actually see here the important border town of Azaz, that Turkey
is determined to prevent YPG from taking. Just a little beyond that
you can see the Bab al-Salam border crossing and a heavy flow of
vehicles coming from Turkey into Azaz,” the
RT correspondent said, reporting from the Turkey-Syria border, an
area that TV crews rarely gain access to.

“When
we zoom in we can see Turkish military vehicles, probably around a
kilometer away, maybe less. And just in front here's another small
village that YPG say Al-Nusra uses for training,” Phelan
said.

“Beyond
that we can see the Turkish flag flying, that’s on the Turkish side
of the border, and through there the YPG says they monitor a regular
supply of weapons coming from Turkey to that Al-Nusra camp.”

2.&just a few km from Nusra controlled Azaz that #Turkey is determined 2 prevent YPG from taking.

12:48 AM - 3 Mar 2016

According
to the Kurds, after the terror group was excluded from the ceasefire,
Al-Nusra have taken down most of their flags, which would give their
location away and invite airstrikes. However, the RT crew still
managed to film some flags flying above their positions.

YPG
are unequivocal about Turkey’s sponsorship of terrorist groups in
Syria.

Head
of the YPG in Afrin, Abdu Ibrahim, says Turkey is definitely
providing support for terrorist groups in the area.

“Turkey
wanted to make a coalition against terrorism, but any country which
would be in a coalition against terrorism should not open its border
to Al-Nusra Front,” he
said.

“When
there is a Kurdish prisoner, when he is in Turkish hands, they
deliver him to Al-Nusra Front, whereas a wounded man from Islamic
State who is in a Turkish hospital: he gets immunity and guards. No
one can even look at him. What more evidence do you want than that?”

Abdu
Ibrahim also said that some of the corpses that they found on the
battlefield "that belong to Al-Nusra Front were of Turkish
origin and we even found IDs and passports. And the ammo we found in
their warehouses - closed boxes of ammo - they were closed and
stamped by the Turkish government. We even found clearance documents
to allow [the boxes of ammo] cross the borders which proved that they
were approved to cross the borders."

Ankara
says its direct strikes against the YPG are justified due to its
links with the Turkish-based militant group the PKK, which Turkey has
recently resumed its war against at home.

The
rebel fighters on the ground say they are certain Turkey is providing
assistance to IS, Al-Qaeda and Al Nusra.

“The
reason Turkey is on the ground is to support groups like Al-Qaeda.
Support for ISIS is coming from Turkey. They are shelling because it
wants to occupy our land, not to help our people. Turkey dismissed
many of the armed groups, and supported Al Nusra against us,” Abu
Jouma Benawii, a general in the FSA and co-founder of Jaish al-Thuwar
(Army of Revolutionaries), told RT.

“Our
fronts against the regime have stopped, but our front agai

nst ISIS
are going on and against Al Nusra as well. We are committed to the
ceasefire, one million percent,” he dded.

Asked
if he would have changed his mind about joining the uprising, Abu
Jouma Benawii said in hindsight: "Really
I would have changed my mind, because everybody contributed to
destroying Syria, at the beginning and the end it is only the people
who lose."

“Had
we known that Syria’s friends would be like this, we wouldn’t
have been with them. All our people were forced to flee," he dded.

President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said Turkey has the right to carry out
military operations not only in Syria, but in any other country
hosting terror groups that threaten the Turkish state. He alleged
that Ankara’s stance has “absolutely
nothing to do with the sovereignty rights of the states that can’t
take control of their territorial integrity.”

“On
the contrary, this has to do with the will Turkey shows to protect
its sovereignty rights,” Erdogan dded.

houses shelled by Turkey in village near Afrin city

3:03 AM - 2 Mar 2016

Turkish
forces have been shelling YPG, which Ankara considers a terrorist
organization, as well as government army positions in
Syria, since mid-February. The bombings of YPG targets, the
military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), have been underway
despite the US, Ankara's ally, viewing the Kurdish fighters as a
vital partner in fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

There
were reports of dozens of Turkish military vehicles crossing into
Kurdish northern Syria, with servicemen digging trenches in the area.
Turkey’s “provocative” military
buildup on the border and shelling of the Syrian territory could
thwart the fragile truce and disrupt the peace process in the Arab
Republic, the head of the Russian ceasefire monitoring center Lt.
Gen. Sergey Kuralenko said this week.

The
ceasefire in Syria, which came into force on February 27, brokered by
leading world powers, including the US and Russia, is designed to
pave the way to reconciliation between the Syrian government and
moderate rebel forces. They would together agree on a peaceful
transition in the country. Some of the forces in Syria, including IS
and Al-Nusra, are not subject to the ceasefire.

Experts
have been criticizing moderate rebel forces, but even they think that
the situation is shifting now.

“Everyone
remembers what happened to the rebels who had been trained in Turkish
camps by the CIA, and when they returned to Syria, and turned to
Al-Nusra Front”.

However,
the situation is starting to change slowly, as more and more Syrian
rebel fighters “discover
that they are destroying their country and serving external plans to
divide Syria.”

Russian
aircraft continue to carry out airstrikes against Al-Nusra front
militants to “stabilize
the situation” in
the regions north of the city of Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry
said in a statement.

There
have been at least 31 violations of the Syrian ceasefire over the
past three days, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
said on Wednesday, adding that during the same period the number of
local ceasefire agreements between various factions had increased to
38.

During
a conference call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the leaders
of the UK, France, Germany and Italy all agreed the Syrian ceasefire
is a milestone achievement creating favorable conditions for
inter-Syrian dialogue.

President
Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister David
Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi held a conference call to discuss progress in
the Syrian ceasefire. They are seeking to lead the country out of
five years of hostilities, the Kremlin said.

“The
ceasefire in Syria must be respected everywhere,” Francois
Hollande said, after the conference call, according to Reuters.

The
leaders praised the Russian-US agreement that was also supported by
the UN Security Council, noting the ceasefire regime is being
observed and, more importantly, it is creating opportunities for
getting the dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition
groups underway.

The
roadmap for a peace process in Syria, unanimously adopted by the UN
Security Council in December, also garnered support from the five
heads of state.

“The
political process must be initiated as soon as possible,” Angela
Merkel said, summing up the results of the talks.

It
was also discussed that there is a strong need for tighter
cooperation in dealing with the humanitarian crisis afflicting Syria
and to eradicate rampant terrorism in the country.

“Everybody
on the call had a common interest in defeating Daesh [Arabic
pejorative term for Islamic State] in Syria and tackling the Islamist
threat, and therefore it is in all our interest to support a peace
process in the country that can lead to a stable, inclusive
government that has the support of all Syrians,” David
Cameron’s spokeswoman said afterwards, according to the Guardian.

Putin,
Merkel, Cameron, Hollande and Matteo Renzi promised staunch support
for the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG), the UN Security
Council and UN Syria special envoy Staffan de Mistura.

The
ceasefire was implemented on February 27, in compliance with the
joint statement of the United States and the Russian Federation,
which are acting as co-chairs of the ISSG. Terrorist groups such as
Islamic State and Al Nusra Front and others that rejected the
negotiations are not subject to the ceasefire.

Turkish
police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds protesting
outside the headquarters of the opposition Zaman newspaper. They
moved in to secure the premises following a government decision to
take over the management of the media group.

After
clearing their way through the crowd in front of the newspaper’s
HQ, the officers pushed their way inside the building.

“Throw
him off the staircase!” one of the officers allegedly shouted, as
the raid squad pushed one of the publication’s employees down to
the hall, according to a tweet written by a Zaman employee.

Zaman
Editor-in-Chief Sevgi Akarcesme said that during the raid she was
pushed by police as authorities tried to take her out of the
building.

“A
police officer grabbed my phone forcefully while I was broadcasting
on Periscope. I'll sue him when the rule of law is back.
Unbelievable!” she tweeted. “This is beyond comprehension! Such a
sad day in Turkey!”

The
daily confirmed that police had gone to the management floor in the
building, and were preventing editors from entering their offices.
The journalists were shut out of their offices while police allegedly
confiscated their cell phones, according to reports on social media.

The
raid began shortly before midnight after a day of standoffs between
police and opposition protesters furious about what they call a
government crackdown on the free press.

The
biggest opposition publication is being accused by the state of
alleged links to America-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom
the government accuses of attempting to topple the regime.

The
decision by Istanbul 6th Criminal Court of Peace to de facto censor
the publication was granted after the request of the Istanbul Chief
Public Prosecutor's Office, that accused the publication of taking
orders from what it called the “Fethullahist Terrorist
Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETO/PDY).”

The
prosecutor said that the alleged terrorist group is working together
with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) with the aim of toppling
the Turkish government.

To
remedy the so-called “terrorist threat,” the court ruled to sack
the entire management and the editorial team of Feza Media Group
companies and to replace the entire group’s administration with a
three-member board appointed by the state court.

Following
the court ruling the newspaper editorial team released a statement
through its English-language sister publication, Today's Zaman,
calling the takeover the “darkest and gloomiest” for the freedom
of the press.

The
statement added that “media organizations and journalists are being
silenced via threats and blackmail.”

After
the ruling, hundreds of people gathered outside the newspaper's
offices in Istanbul protesting against the move, before police fired
tear gas at protesters as they stormed the head office building.

Turkey
not ‘in keeping with healthy democratic values’ – State Dept.

Amnesty
International has condemned the move to silence the opposition press.

“By
lashing out and seeking to rein in critical voices, President
Erdogan’s government is steamrolling over human rights,” said
Andrew Gardner from Amnesty International’s Turkey.

Even
Washington, while reaffirming Turkey’s crucial role as a NATO
member and US ally in the region, had to admit that the Turkish
government’s recent actions are not fully consistent with the
spirit of “democracy.”

“We
see this as the latest in the series of troubling judicial and law
enforcement actions taken by the Turkish government targeting media
outlets and others critical of it…We call on the Turkish government
to ensure full respect for due process and equal treatment under the
law. Court-ordered supervision of a media company’s finances and
operations should not prompt changes to the newsroom or editorial
policy,” State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said, reading
from a prepared statement.

“We
don’t think that these sorts of actions are in keeping with the
healthy democratic values,” Toner told RT's Gayane Chichakyan. “As
Turkey’s friend and NATO ally – and we do count ourself as a
friend of Turkey and we certainly are a NATO ally – we urge Turkish
authorities to ensure their actions uphold the universal democratic
values enshrined in their own constitution.”